Rex Ryan is drawing the ire of New England Patriots, even after he is retired from coaching. In fact, he may be even more infuriating to Patriots, now that he’s in media. The former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach spends his time as an analyst on ESPN, and he recently went after Amari Cooper for the Dallas Cowboys receiver’s inability to make an impact during road games.
While statistics back up what Ryan said, he also called Cooper, “a turd.” That didn’t help Ryan’s argument.
During “The Double Coverage” podcast with Devin and Jason McCourty, the twins discussed how they felt about Ryan’s comments.
“I just wanted to call ESPN and say, ‘ESPN, listen. You have the Jordan documentary coming out. You don’t need to air Rex Ryan,’” Devin said. “Like, you don’t need that. Ratings are going to go through the roof. When you drop the Jordan doc, it’s a wrap. As soon as Rex Ryan said that, (ESPN) should have cut it, should have never had it on air. Whatever (they) had to do, just cut it. Throw it in the trash. The Jordan doc is going to drop. We don’t need any extra hits for nonsense.”
But it wasn’t just that ESPN gave Ryan the microphone. Jason was frustrated that ESPN promoted Ryan’s content on social media to make sure it caused waves.
“To me, the crazy thing was after he said it, ‘Get Up!’ posted it on Twitter, ESPN retweeted it on Twitter,” he said. “Everybody was all-in on this ‘turd’ comment. I guess, at the same time, it’s all about entertainment — how can we get more viewers, how can we get people to click this, click that? But at what point in the game can you call somebody a turd? Whether he’s a good player or not a good player, it was just bad ball all around.”
In Ryan’s defense, he’s paid to analyze the game, and say how he feels — even if his opinions are bombastic. The problem, again, wasn’t necessary what he said but how he phrased it. There was a clear lack of professionalism.
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